"Ghenrikh Kasparyan's career as a study composer spanned more than sixty years, from the time when Alexey Troitzky and Leonid Kubbel were in their heyday to our own time. His first study appeared in 1928, and in those early years it was Kubbel in particular who was his mentor. "The works of Kubbel gradually became for me the standard, and from then on I aspired to the same high level that Leonid Ivanovich achieved." As his work developed over the following decades, Kasparian produced many studies of great depth and analytical refinement. He was a strong player (the champion of Armenia ten times and a competitor in four USSR championships) and it shows in his compositions. In introducing his collection of 400 studies, published in 1987, he described his work in the following terms. "I have paid the greatest attention to the themes of positional draw, mate, stalemate, and systematic manoeuvre. This is no accident, but entirely natural: in contemporary study composition these themes are often being elaborated, they are promising, fruitful and, perhaps, inexhaustible." Yes, his themes may be the familiar ones, but the originality and subtlety of the play give his compositions a variety that seems as inexhaustible as the game itself.

Kasparyan has left us a colossal legacy, not only as a composer, but also as an anthologist. Between 1963 and 1980, he published five thematically classified anthologies, which constitute an invaluable resource for students of the endgame study. But of all his books, perhaps the one to seek out first is his anthology Zamechatelnye etyudy (1982). It is the best, that is to say, the most useful and enjoyable, large-scale general anthology ever to have appeared."

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This study was honoured with enthusiasm by the tourney judge, Alexander Herbstman (quoted by Timothy Whitworth): "The composer has worked up a novel and extraordinarily dynamic positional draw. The subtle introductory play, the light construction, the final drawn position, with the keen struggle extending over the whole board - all this makes the study an outstanding work of chess art."

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The composer's quiet comment, quoted by Timothy Whitworth: "A little study, which nevertheless is not all that easy to solve." It is, of course, a brilliant and memorable little gem.

Below some more studies of Grandmaster Genrikh Kasparyan:

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